British chemist and physicist best known for the rediscovery of “fixed air” (carbon dioxide), the concept of latent heat, and the discovery of the bicarbonates (such as bicarbonate of soda). Black lived and worked within the context of the Scottish Enlightenment, a remarkable flourishing of intellectual life in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen during the latter half of the 18th century. He could count the philosopher David Hume, economist Adam Smith, and geologist James Hutton among his friends. Education Black was the son of expatriate Ulster merchant John Black and his Aberdeen-born wife, Margaret Gordon. At age 12 Black was sent to school in Belfast, and a few years later he moved to the University of Glasgow to study art. Black’s father later required him to choose a course of study leading to a profession. Because he chose medicine, Black came under the influence of an innovative teacher of chemistry, William Cullen, and, unusual for a young student, he started to conduct...